Sleep with One Eye Open – Conversations with the Pack

Posted on by H.J. Hill

I am Doodlebug, King of the Olde English Bulldogges.

Sweetie: I have called this meeting to address a serious problem.

Doodlebug: What do you mean you have called this meeting? I’m the King. I call the meetings.

Sweetie: Too low, too slow! Meeting called! This “doggie” shoe emergency must be dealt with. If we don’t, we might wake up wearing all kinds of human nonsense. Shoes, hats, vests, sweaters, sunglasses and anything else they drape on themselves.

MoonCat: I told you. There is only one solution. Sleep with one eye open. Then, if a human sneaks up with any nonsense, you can get up and walk away. Humans are funny creatures. They get embarrassed when they disturb our sleep. A guilt trip which works to our advantage. Meeting adjourned.

Sweetie: Hey, wait just a minute…

MoonCat: Meeting. Adjourned.

©️ 2025. H.J. Hill. All Rights Reserved.

Just Try It On – Part 2 Conversations with the Pack

Posted on by H.J. Hill

I am Doodlebug, King of the Olde English Bulldogges. Run. Run. Run, run, run. Free!

Sweetie: Doodle! Hey! You’re dreaming.

Doodlebug: Aw. It was a great dream until…I was running so fast and, all of a sudden, a big heavy boot grabbed my foot and…What’s that?

Sweetie: Lady Human must have sneaked up while you were asleep and stuck one of those nasty “doggie” shoes on your foot.

MoonCat: Sleep with one eye open. Then that sort of thing won’t happen.

©️ 2025. H.J. Hill. All Rights Reserved.

Just Try It On – Part One Conversations with the Pack

Posted on by H.J. Hill

I am Doodlebug, King of the Olde English Bulldogges.

Sweetie: Take that away, Lady Human.

Me: Aw, just try it on. They will keep your feet warm and dry during the winter.

Sweetie: My feet stay warm and dry just fine, thank you, without sticking them in little bags.

Me: But these are doggie shoes.

Sweetie: I see your confusion. You’ve mistaken me for something called a “doggie”. I don’t even know what that is.

Doodlebug: I’ll just go over there and find a place to hide.

Sweetie: Don’t sneak off, Doodle. She’s coming for you next. Lady Human, give those whatever they are to the cat.

MoonCat: My delicate feet were not designed to fit into human contraptions. I respectfully decline.

©️ 2025. H J. Hill. All Rights Reserved.

Special Footwear – Conversations with Sweetie

Posted on by H.J. Hill

Sweetie: What is that clunky sound when I walk?

Me: Uh, don’t you know?

Sweetie: Why would I ask or look confused if I knew?

Me: You are wearing your empty metal food bowl on your foot like a shoe, which it is not.

Sweetie: You wear things on your feet.

Me: I wear shoes that are meant to be worn on my feet.

Sweetue: Well, my food bowl is meant to have food in it which it does not. Hint. Hint.

Copyright 2023 H.J. Hill All Rights Reserved.

Shoe Store – Conversations with Stella and the Pack

Posted on by H.J. Hill

I am Stella, Queen of the Olde English Bulldogges. I do not wear shoes. I do not care to. I see no point to them, even as a snack. Snoopey, however, has different tastes. She committed a crime against a pair of Lady Human’s fancy shoes, but, to be honest, Lady Human did not hire a guard to protect her shoes so she deserved it.

Me:        Why would I ever hire a guard for my shoes?

Stella:    You could have set me over them. I don’t snack on shoes and I work cheap.

Me:        I didn’t even know that they were in danger.

Stella:    Snoopey told me that she had been sniffing them for months and, finally, one night, she lost her battle with temptation. As I say, if you had hired me…

Snoopey:   I am sorry that I ate your shoes, Lady Human. As tasty and smelly as they were, I had no right.

Me:        I forgive you, Snoopey. I just don’t know if I can trust you around my shoes again.

Snoopey:   I won’t chew on any of the others. That was my favorite pair. I laid my nose by them every night. Every night, they called my name. They smelled like your feet and like leather and like wherever they had walked.

Me:        I wore them to my daughter’s wedding.

Snoopey:  So that was why they smelled like strange humans and burritos. It must have been a wonderful party.

Me:        You nibbled parts off both soles and all the heels.

Snoopey:   I thought you didn’t need those parts. They didn’t show from the top. Why do you need shoes anyway? And why do you have so many? Humans have at most two feet.

Me:        We wear them to protect our feet. And we wear them to look good, for style.

Stella:    My feet look fine without them. But I have seen human feet. I would cover them up, too.

Wiggles:   Can I have a pair of shoes to chew?

Doodlebug:   Me, too. A really stinky pair. Not dog stinky. Human stinky.

Miss Sweetie:    I just need one shoe. Tiger can have the second one.

Tiger:   Thanks, but I prefer to chew plastic that doesn’t smell like humans.

Me:        Okay, now hear this!

Stella:    That’s my job!

Me:        My shoes are off limits. They are not to be eaten…

Snoopey:   Carried around?

Me:        No.

Wiggles:   Chewed?

Me:        No.

Doodlebug:  Snuffled?

Me:        No.

Miss Sweetie:   Nibbled?

Me:   No.

Stella:   Licked?

Me:        No. Wait. I thought you said you didn’t like shoes.

Stella:    The more I hear them described, the more tempting they become.

Me:        I thought you said you would guard them.

Stella:    Well, I would, from the others.

 

 

 

Copyright 2017 H.J. Hill All Rights Reserved.

High Maintenance Humans – Conversations with Stella

Posted on by H.J. Hill

I am Stella, Queen of the Olde English Bulldogges! Hello! Bulldogs are told all the time how much more of everything we are – more work, more health issues, more wrinkly, more stubborn, and most importantly, more love. But humans are mistaken. Humans are high maintenance.

Me:        How so?

Stella:    Where are you going?

Me:        How do you know I am going anywhere?

Stella:    Simple. What are you wearing on your top part?

Me:        A blouse with a T-shirt.

Stella:    Why do you need 2 shirts? You only wear 2 shirts when you are going out. What do I wear when I am going out? Nothing! Humans are high maintenance. Dogs are easy.

Me:        I don’t see how my shirts make me high maintenance…

Stella:    And what do you have on your feet?

Me:        Shoes. Just casual shoes.

Stella:    Casual shoes today. Fancy shoes tomorrow. Shoes with heels. Shoes without heels. Black shoes, brown shoes, gray shoes. Those are just the ones I have seen. And what do I have on my feet? Nothing! Low maintenance.

Me:        Hey, I’m just living life.

Stella:    High maintenance human life. We are easy by comparison. Like the way you all eat. What are those metal things you hold in your hands and stab your food with?

Me:        Knives and forks?

Stella:    Why? You have paws, don’t you? And long, long toes on the ends of your arms that you pick stuff up with. You have mouths. Why don’t you eat like us? Then you won’t have to spend so much time and water washing those metal stabby things.

We have water bowls. You have all shapes and sizes of bowls you drink from. Little ones. Big ones. Skinny ones. Get one water bowl and drink all your weird drinks out of it. Low maintenance.

And then there are all these things sitting around that you stare at – the Picture Box, the little box you carry in your hand and talk into, the stuff that Moon the Cat knocks off the piano, the piano…

Me:        Okay, I get it. Humans are high maintenance, maybe even higher than bulldogs.

Stella:    Good, now that we agree, go get me my toys – all of them, not just the new ones – oh, and wipe out my water bowl again. A piece of dust blew into it. And my vitamins, I need my vitamins. Oh, and bring me both kinds of treats, not just the one you got at the healthy place. While you’re at it, straighten out my cushion. I bunched it up too much and be sure to refill my food bowl before bedtime. I like my midnight snacks.

 

 

Copyright 2017 H.J. Hill All Rights Reserved.